The Week in Film: "An Education" beats a "Retreat," plus new trailers

Thirty Republican senators voted down an amendment by Al Franken to take away government funds from defense contractors who prevent their employees from pursuing legal action for workplace assault or sexual discrimination, but luckily it passed anyway.

Meanwhile, David Letterman admitted to affairs with his employees, and his ratings are higher than ever.

Fix your boss with a “no means no” stare and let’s talk about this week’s movies.

The weekend’s big release is Couples Retreat, and while the resort-set movie always looks postcard-pretty — which is never a given, since lush Greek locales couldn’t save Mamma Mia! or My Life in Ruins from looking washed-out and awful — the script is rather problematic.

Four couples (Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell, Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman, Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis, Faizon Love and Kali Hawk) fly off to a tropical paradise, but three of the pairs don’t know they’re going to be required to participate in heavy-duty relationship therapy.

The movie doesn’t have much to say about relationships, which would have been fine if it didn’t put the brakes on the comedy (to its credit, the movie has lots of zingy one-liners) in the third act for some dull moments of drama and growth that are about as deep as an episode of Full House.

And queer audiences may find themselves cringing over some of the gay-panic humor, some of which involves the touchy-feely and barely-clad yoga instructor (played by Carlos Ponce, above, with Vaughn and Akerman).